Bringing Public Opinion Back in

Abstract

Abstract Theories about European Community integration have passed through three phases. The first consisted of two ambitious initial formulations (transactionalism and neo‐functionalism) during the late 1950s and early 1960s. A short‐lived second phase, characterized by an intense revisionism, can be identified in the late 1960s. However, despite the theoretical progress made during this second phase, in which the importance of public opinion received a much greater recognition, integration theory suffered near‐fatal asphyxiation during the Euro‐stagnation of the 1970s. The current third phase is a revival of the first. This chapter considers these three phases, with brief digressions to deal with the related theories of disintegration and diversity. It then broadens the discussion to incorporate insights from the theory of international regimes and to review theoretical constructs used in previous empirical work on attitudes towards integration.

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